


Indestructible

by peggy_hamilton



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Gen, a hint of bucky/you if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22191211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peggy_hamilton/pseuds/peggy_hamilton
Summary: You, Bucky and Steve were inseparable best friends before the war. Until you go missing.
Kudos: 4





	1. part 1

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on my tumblr justthinkingofwaystoavoidbusses
> 
> original request: Hi again! Can you do one with Bucky And Steve where the reader was their best friend before the war and they both thought she was dead. One day the avengers have a mission to find this person that’s with hydra who kills anyone she wants or just doesn’t like, she has like super strength, can teleport and they took away her humanity so she has no emotions. They find her but she hurts them all and leaves before they can catch her, Bucky and Steve notice it’s her and they try to find any way to bring her back, sorry if it doesn’t make sense and its a bit long - @itssssxxlillian

1941

You, Bucky and Steve were inseparable. All of you had been friends since you were children, you had been Steve neighbour and only other kid in his apartment block so it made sense that you and him became quick friends, followed fast by you becoming friends with Bucky.

Everyone in Brooklyn who knew you knew that the boys were your closest friends, you didn’t need anyone else. There was no third wheeling or being left out, all of you balanced each other out and bounced off each other. Together there was no stopping you, or so you thought.

Just months before the war, when talk of American men enlisting to join the fight began, you went missing. Steve and Bucky were a mess when they found out, they looked all over town and beyond. They searched and they searched and got the help of anyone who was willing as well as the authorities. You had vanished without a trace, no sign of you or what had happened.

—

1942

Bucky and Steve stood in front of a small stone grave that stood guard over an empty plot. It had been a year since you went missing and eventually presumed dead. You were buried in a plot next to Steve’s mother, Sarah, who had practically taken you in as her own after your own parents died.

“I’m going to enlist,” Bucky said, looking at the scripture on your grave stone.

Y/N Y/L/N

1917-1941

Beloved friend and daughter

Her line ended too soon

Steve nodded, he knew this was coming. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Bucky nodded, “I need to do my part, protect my country.”

“No doubt they’ll take you,” Steve said, shoving his hands in his pockets as he read and reread the scripture. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew with his physical shape and numerous illnesses they would never take him, but that wouldn’t stop him trying.

—

1943

Bucky did enlist, he shipped out to England then to Europe. He was stationed in Italy on the front lines when it happened, he and his men were shocked still by what they saw. Nothing in training had prepared them for it, bright blue beams were coming from complex machinery he had never seen.

When they came closer he kicked into drive, he shot at anything he could but it was no use. Half of his men, his close friends, we captured. The other half were taken captive, he was one of them.

These people who had taken him put them all in tall cylinder chambers lined up in the basement. He was in there cramped with some other soldiers when they came back, they started opening up cages and taking people out and dragging them off.

When they came to the cage he was in they started to take one of the younger soldiers, a boy who wasn’t even 18 and had lied on his enlistment forms. He looked scared shitless and Bucky knew he didn’t deserve this, “No,” he said, standing up.

“Take me,” he gulped. The people shrugged and tossed the boy to the ground and took him instead, dragging him away and down a dark hallway.

Once there they strapped him to a metal table. Looking around he could see the other soldiers they had taken, they were all crying out for help and trying to break the bonds. Bucky lay there silently, he knew it was no hope, he closed his eyes and thought back to the good days back in Brooklyn with you and Steve to keep him sane.

Over the coming weeks he watched as the other soldiers left one by one, he wasn’t stupid, he knew that they had died. They hadn’t survived the many mysterious injections they were all given or straight up executed for resisting.

The drugs were given to him on a daily basis, they messed with his mind and he had no idea how many days passed, if it was night or day. In the hope that he would remember himself at the end of it he repeated his name and soldier number.

One thing that he was aware of though was a body on a table adjacent to his. His vision was always hazy but he recognised your Y/H/C locks, you looked thinner but it was definitely you. “Y-Y/N?” he once tried to call out, his voice hoarse whilst he lifted a hand feebly in your direction.

You didn’t reply, you never did. One time he swore you were trying to talk to him, he could see your mouth moving as you tried to talk to him but he couldn’t hear, his vision went blurry and he blacked out.

The next time he woke up you were gone, he wasn’t sure if you had ever been there - you were dead, it was impossible. Still, he held onto it for as long as he could remember.

—

Steve was here. His best friend. “Steve,” he smiled and laughed, letting Steve undo his bonds and sit him up for the first time in god knows how long and–

Something was different.

First, Steve was in latex. Second, Steve had grown several feet and got more muscles. “I thought you were dead.”

“I thought you were smaller,” Bucky retorted breathlessly.

He looked over to his right, there were no other tables, no sign that you or any other soldiers had been there. “Buck, c’mon we gotta go,” he heard Steve say.

“I thought I saw,” Bucky trailed off, frowning as he searched the otherwise empty room for some sort of sign that you had been there.

Before he knew it his arm was thrown over Steve shoulder and he was being led down the hallway. “Y/N,” he breathed when he regained his thought process.

Steve paused dead in his tracks, “What?”

“I thought- I thought I saw Y/N,” Bucky whispered.

“What? You couldn’t have, she’s been dead for a year,” Steve shook his head, looking back down the hallway the way they came.

“She’s been missing for a year. We just assumed she was dead,” Bucky gulped, “I could have sworn I saw her, a while ago when I was back there.”

Steve tightened his jaw and shook his head, “You were drugged, Bucky. You probably imagined it,” he forced out. An explosion sounded in the distance and spurred Steve on, “We need to go. Now.”

—

Thoughts of you once again plagued Steve and Bucky, they didn’t say anything but each time they took out a hydra base they both scanned and searched for you. Just in case. But they never found you.

A few months later Bucky fell off the train leaving Steve all alone. First you now Bucky, why was he the one to survive it all? Out of all three of you why did he make it to the end of the line whilst you and Bucky got off so soon?

It made him fight harder, to avenge Bucky, to make up for the fact that you went missing and he couldn’t stop it. When he flew the aircraft into the ice he knew it was for the greater good, but a part of him knew it was because he didn’t want to face life after the war without his two best friends.


	2. part 2

1941

“No, stop, put me down,” you struggled, kicking out your arms and legs that were being held securely by strong men who were carrying you. They had placed a bag over your head so you could only see bits of sunshine filtering through the fabric.

You had been walking back to your apartment in the centre of Brooklyn when all of a sudden you had been grabbed, it was a quiet day so nobody on the street had heard your screams or come to your aid. Before you knew it you were being stuffed into the back of what you assumed was a van, there was tight rope bound around your wrists and ankles.

The rope was thick and scratchy, it burnt your skin when you tried to free yourself. After a long time of trying to free yourself you let your body fall to the floor so could curl up and cry. You had no idea what was in store for you, no idea if you would make it or not, you sobbed and tried to focus on thoughts of Bucky and Steve. Your best friends, your brothers, they would save you. They had to.

—

After several hours of driving the van came to a stop and the doors were flung open, once again light filtered through the bag though it wasn’t as much as earlier so you assumed it must have been late evening.

You could hear the sounds of men talking in a language you didn’t understand but could identify as German. Back in school you had taken a few classes but not enough to understand what they were saying, they talked between themselves for a few minutes before someone dragged you out of the van.

Knowing it was no use to struggle you didn’t resist, you just made yourself go dead weight to give the man a hard time carrying you. You could hear gates and footsteps, you could hear the sounds of nature so you must be far outside the city, it was only when you were inside did they take the bag off your head.

Your legs and wrists were still tied together but you could see at least, you blinked to focus your eyes and looked down at your wrists. The skin was red and puffy from where you had tried to escape, looking around you saw you were in a very small metal room in front of a metal table.

There were no windows in sight and the room was cold and unwelcoming, panic rose in your chest as you thought of all the horrible things that could happen to you if you didn’t escape or die straight away.

Time passed both slowly, after what felt like hours of waiting the door opened and a short white balding man walked through the doors, he pushed up his glasses and sat across from you. “Miss Y/L/N, mine name is Arnim Zola. I’m your doctor,” he spoke in a German accent and gave a false smile.

You stared at him, “I don’t need a doctor.”

“You don’t think you need a doctor, but you are wrong,” he replied all too cheerily. “You are going to be the face of the new world and you must be in top shape to go forth.”

Well, shit, that didn’t sound good.

“Why me?” you asked bluntly.

Zola sighed, “Because you are alone in the world. You are an orphan that no one will notice is missing, the perfect subject.”

You clenched your jaw, you were an orphan but you had Steve and Bucky.

“Why am I here?”

Zola smiled slyly and it sent a shiver down your spine, you leaned as far away from him as possible. “Because, there is a war. Germany needs a big win, and you are that big win.”

You narrowed your eyes, “What’s that supposed to mean.”

Zola tapped the side of his nose, “You don’t need to know now, you will find out.”

He got up an left, you sat in that room for days. Soldiers would come in every so often to give you an indecent meal that was difficult to eat with bound hands. After a few days you were moved by car again, once more with a bag over your head.

That was how it went for several months, you were moved to different facilities all across America. By now you didn’t even struggle, just resigned yourself to the fact that this is what the rest of your short life would look like.

At the facilities they did various tests on you. Psych tests, blood tests, physical tests, mental ability tests. Any test you could think of they gave you. You had no idea what for, you didn’t even feel sad or scared about the whole ordeal. You felt numb, any hope Steve and Bucky could have saved you was long gone. You would rather live out the rest of your days feeling nothing that feeling scared and alone.

—

1943

You don’t know how long ago it was now that they had transported you away from America. You had travelled on a ship for a few days then it was back to driving everywhere, it was at these new facilities that things began to change.

Instead of doing tests on you, they were doing tests on you.

Now they had you permanently strapped to a metal table, you had various wires and leads injected into your veins to keep you alive. Almost everyday they would inject you with some strange coloured liquid, your body was weak. You had lost a lot of weight and you didn’t have the energy or awareness to take in your surroundings.

Between injections you would regain some consciousness, enough to notice that you were no longer the only subject. The room was full of other people on tables like you, you also noticed that they began to disappear as the days drew on.

In the distance you could always hear explosions and gunfire. The war, you realised in the back of your mind. One day there was a commotion amongst the scientists who usually injected you, this led to you gaining more senses than you had in months.

Looking to your left you something, someone familiar. “Bucky?” you whispered in shock.

Turning your head you tried to get his attention, he was looking at you but his eyes were glazed. “Bucky, listen to me,” you pleaded, “You need to get out of here. You need to escape, Bucky,” you were yelling as loud as your unused throat would allow.

It was useless, his eyes slid shut and you knew he wouldn’t remember. Just your luck, the first time in years you have a hope of rescue and Bucky isn’t even capable of helping you. Tears streamed down your face and you flopped your head back against the metal table, a wave of emotions crashed over you and you felt everything you had been pushing off for the past two years come at you all at once. You sobbed until the scientists came back and injected you with a tranquilliser, when you woke up you had been moved.

—

1944

Whatever they had done to you had changed you, you couldn’t even call yourself human anymore. You could feel your body changing, you had more strength than you knew what to do with and you could teleport without rhyme or reason.

You had no control over your new found powers, but you had some control over your mind. Hydra wanted you to work for them, to be their obedient servant, but you were no fool. You knew Hydra was the shadow that loomed over Earth and there was no way you would ever do as they say or help them.

At least, that’s what you thought.

Hydra can be very persuasive when they want to be. Each day they would beat you, hurt you and cut you in the hopes that you would give up and give in. You never did, you were a weapon now and there wasn’t a chance in hell you would let Hydra control you.

That was until they stopped torturing you one day, they didn’t come to get you for weeks. When they did you knew it was different, the soldier of the day didn’t come into your cell but instead dragged you out of it and down the hall to another wide open room.

In the centre was a large metal chair with panels lifting off all different parts of it. You struggled and you fought against them as much as they could but the soldiers were persistent. They forced you in the chair and in locked down around your arms and head.

That was when the most intense pain you had ever felt in your life coursed through you head. They were electrocuting you on a very large and painful scale, you screamed out in pain so loud the whole compound heard you.

They put the chair on over and over and over until you couldn’t remember yourself, you couldn’t remember who you were or what your purpose was. You couldn’t feel any emotions apart from apathy.

—

1956

“Harder,” the soldier commanded and you threw yourself at him, punching him with all your might and he stumbled back, “Good.”

You loosened up your muscles and wiped the sweat off your forehead, they had woken you up again for more training. By now you had almost mastered your strength and you had completely mastered your teleportation.

“You are ready for your first mission,” you supervisor told you and handed you a manilla file. “Be ready in half an hour.”

The hit was a US politician, it would be a quick kill with no witnesses. Perfect.

—

1989

Hydra woke you up every few months for a new mission. You weren’t their only operative but you knew you were the best, you had 43 known kills and about 30 more unknown ones. They were careful about what they let leak out about you to the other governments, they wanted you to be a secret, a myth, but one that was very real. The type rich politicians argued over whether or not you were real, still alive, and if they were worried you were coming for them.

You were indestructible, anyone facing you had the right to be fearful. In the past two weeks you had already taken out three targets and it was time for you to go back into cryo freeze until you were needed again.

—

2015

You had been out of cryo for longer than you had been before, apparently other operatives had left and been killed and they needed your services more than before.

The tasks now were menial, training new recruits or practising your powers. Hydra was on the down low so you weren’t able to take out any enemies, you were itching to kill someone, to take out your pent up rage.

You new supervisor decided that the perfect way to do this would be to set you free into the world and have you take out a list of targets that had survived a previous attempt on their life, and not claim the death as their fault so the government wouldn’t know Hydra had resurfaced.

The targets were all civilians, smart scientists, people who held a potential threat to the future of Hydra. You were all too happy to take them out, and if anyone got pissy with you in the streets of town it was guaranteed that they wouldn’t wake up alive tomorrow.

—

2016

“Guys we have new intel,” Natasha said as she walked into the meeting room and set down a pile of files on the desk in front of the other Avengers.

“What now?” Steve asked, picking up a file and flicking through.

“Hydra operative going by the name Cobra, seemed like a myth like Bucky,” all eyes flicked to the ex-assassin and he shrunk under the gaze. “This girl has over a hundred confirmed kills and a suspected fifty or so more under her belt.”

Sam let out a low whistle, “How’d anyone get that much done?”

“Looks like Cobra was in a similar situation as Bucky, been around since the forties and had kills every few months. Way more kills have been popping up in the last year which makes me think she’s out of cryo.”

“That would make sense, they lost Buck and a lot of operatives,” Sam piped up.

Natasha nodded, “My thoughts exactly. Bucky, do you remember anything about Cobra. Any extra intel?”

Bucky shook his head, “No, if we were ever in the same facility then we were awake at different times,” he said and flipped through the file, “She was woken up more frequently than me but for shorter intervals, I’d reckon we both aged at a similar rate maybe her a bit longer. She’d look around my and Steve’s age, if she had this many kills then she is certainly a deadly asset.”

The room was silent for a moment then they all went into action, “Let’s stop her.”

—

You were back at the nearest Hydra base, you had completed all your latest hits and you were back to get new names when the entire building went into lockdown. The power cut off and the emergency lights came on, you smirked at the thought of the oncoming fight. Whoever it was would be nothing to you.

—

The Avengers all got out of the quinjet and stormed the base, Steve broke down the door and they all rushed in. Natasha’s intel said that Cobra should be here right now and they were not letting her escape.

They split up and Natasha went down a long hall until she saw a figure leaning casually against the wall. “Do I have visitors?” you asked, pushing away from the wall and sauntering in Natasha’s direction. “I do love it when people come to see me.”

Natasha charged at you and threw a punch which you easily dodged, both of you began fighting. You and her were extremely skilled fighters so there was a roughly equal amount of how many punches landed and how many got dodged on both parts. Natasha swung herself up and wrapped her thighs around your neck, you smirked as she was mid twist and teleported out of her grasp letting her fall suddenly to the floor and land hard on her side.

“The great Natalia Romanova, I thought you’d be better at this,” you taunted and she pushed up at you. You managed to land three punches to her side then kicked her strongly in the stomach sending her flying back into the wall. “I think I’ll go find some of your friends,” you smiled sweetly and walked off.

“She’s head your way,” Natasha spoke into her earpiece, “Heads up- she can teleport.”

—

The next person of the Avengers you found was Sam, he blocked the path to the hall and stared you down. “You must be Cobra.”

“You must be nobody important,” you replied quickly. From Sam’s backpack emerged two metal wings and he lifted off the ground to fly at you.

Just as he got near you ducked and he flew over you, the hall was too thin for him to turn around just yet so you used the moment to chase after him and leap on his back. Sam faltered as you got him in a choke hold and he fell to the floor.

He struggled to free himself from the tight grip of your arm around his throat, with difficulty he managed to flip you and you accidentally let go of him allowing him to take a breath. Whilst he gulped in air you reached out a hand and grabbed onto one of the wings of his suit and crushed the metal beneath your hand out of shape so he wouldn’t be able to fly with it.

“Good luck with that,” you winked at Sam and jogged off leaving him gasping and gurgling. “Why is that all Hydra assassins gotta mess up my wings?” he muttered.

—

The next floor up you could hear the sounds of two footsteps, you knew that any other Hydra agents had evacuated or been killed so this must be two more of the Avengers. The lights of this floor were flickering so it was harder to see but it didn’t bother you, you could still take down whoever it was.

The lack of light hid your face as you saw the two figures approach. One stood out more in a blue suit, the other blended more in his all black gear. “This is your last chance,” Steve said, “Give it up and we won’t hurt you.”

You scoffed, “Like you could hurt me.” Something was familiar about your voice that made the boys tense up.

Teleporting to directly behind them they didn’t even notice until you spoke up, “I’m indestructible.”

They spun around, and began a duel attack on you, nothing you couldn’t manage. It was hard for them to keep up, every time they aimed a punch you teleported out of the way and punched them where their guard was down.

Steve aimed his shield at you and threw it hard at you, you caught it as easily as a frisbee just as the lights turned back on and they both stopped.

“Y/N?” they asked at the same time, astonished and confused.

“Sorry, who?” you frowned, using the shield and throwing it back at Steve.

He was unprepared, it hit him in the stomach and sent him skidding backwards as the impact winded him. “You’re alive,” Bucky stated.

“I would assume all of us are alive, judging by the fact that we’re talking,” you rolled your eyes, waiting for one of them to try and fight you but neither of them did.

You narrowed your eyes at their shell shocked faces, an odd feeling was settling over the three of you and you didn’t like it. So you did the only thing you knew how to do, you teleported away.


	3. part 3

You teleported to the other side of the country where you had a small safe house, not even Hydra knew about it. Something about those two Avengers made you feel weird, they made you feel. You hadn’t felt any emotions for as long as you could remember but now you felt doubt, uneasy, confused.

There was an answer out there. There had to be.

Not getting back in touch with Hydra you loaded up an old laptop and went on the internet and searched for the Avengers. Lots of information came up, who they were, what they were doing, a mess a while back with something called the Accords.

Going on a sort of fan site you found out who the last two were. Captain America and The Winter Soldier, the latter you knew of. The Winter Soldier had been an asset of Hydra’s, almost as deadly as you so you heard but you had never met him, now he was part of the Avengers so no wonder you were out of cryo more frequently than you had before.

Captain America, also Steve Rogers, had an exhibit at the Smithsonian museum. Figuring that was the safest place to gather any extra credible information you made that your next stop. You changed into civilian clothes and teleported to the bathroom of the museum and walked out.

The exhibit had been out for a few years already but there was still a steady stream of visitors, it seemed the glamour of being an Avenger and from the 40’s hadn’t worn off yet. Walking around you could see lots of screens playing interviews from people who knew Steve way back when and large blacks with information written on them, one of which caught your eye.

_Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, best friends since childhood, were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield. Before their rise to glory as howling commandos they had a close friendship with their other childhood friend, Y/N Y/L/N, who tragically went missing and was never found just two years before Rogers joined the war. Y/N’s disappearance is speculated to be one of their driving factors in making so much progress in pushing back the enemy…_

The plaque went on to share some more information about what the boys did in the war and had a video playing some footage of them laughing but you couldn’t focus. That name, Y/N Y/L/N, it seemed so familiar. But why?

You turned around to keep looking and stopped dead in your tracks. There was another glass plaque, smaller than the rest and tucked away from most of the exhibit.

_The Disappearance Of Y/N Y/L/N_

_Y/N Y/L/N was the best friend of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes throughout their childhood. Y/L/N lived on the same apartment block as Rogers and accounts state that they were always seen together._

_‘It was all so tragic, she was a lovely girl and went missing so suddenly, the neighbourhood was in a state for weeks’ - a statement from Y/N’s neighbour._

_As popularity surrounding Captain America grew amongst the states many people began to look into the case of Y/L/N’s disappearance in the search for answers. Sadly, nothing conclusive was ever found. Y/N Y/L/N still remains missing to this day and was presumed dead in 1941 after several months of searching. Y/N is buried in Holy Cross cemetery in Brooklyn, New York._

Below that was an old black and white picture with a face you knew, a face you knew all too well. It was you.

Your heart raced frantically as you stared at the photo, you looked younger and happier but it was definitely you. The photo was cropped so it was just you but you could see that you were with two other people who you assumed would have been Steve and Bucky.

Pushing through the crowd you began hyperventilating, how was that possible? Well you knew it was very possible, they had been taking you out of cryo since the 1950’s and you were already an adult at that point. Meaning there was no doubt that that was definitely you.

Y/N Y/L/N, that was your name. It felt foreign after decades of being referred to as ‘Cobra’ but it also felt right. Like coming home after being on an extended holiday.

When you were out of the crowd you teleported back to your safe house and paced around as you thought. You couldn’t remember anything from before Hydra, you remembered the first time they woke you out of cryo and began to train you in fighting. Back then you hadn’t protested, you hadn’t questioned what they were doing, you were a blank slate that they had moulded into what you were now. Was anything you thought even your own or was it all just Hydra?

A quick search on the internet told you about all the things Hydra had done, kills listed that you recognised were done by your own hands. Up until now you had no problem killing people, Hydra had convinced you they were doing it for the greater good anyway so there was no problem in it.

Now as you researched further into all the kills you had done, the people and their lives you felt guilty. You hadn’t felt guilty before, you hadn’t felt anything. What was wrong with you? Earlier today you had been ready to receive another list of people to kill in cold blood and now you were being overwhelmed with emotions.

It was the Avengers fault. Steve and Bucky’s fault, you had been fine until then and now this was happening to you. You couldn’t go back to Hydra now and it wasn’t safe outside because the Avengers would be tracking you again by now. You were stuck here to wallow in these new emotions and try and think of what to do.

—

“She’s alive,” Steve said in disbelief and stared at the table. They had gotten back about an hour ago and they had all been quiet since the return. “She’s been alive all this time and we didn’t know. We stopped looking for her,” he said guiltily.

“We thought she was dead,” Bucky reasoned, in the past two years he had regained a lot of his memories, both good and bad ones. “We couldn’t have known.”

“You said you saw her,” Steve remembered, “When you first got taken by Hydra. You said you saw her but then she was gone.”

Bucky nodded, he had hazy memories of his time being drugged but he did remember telling Steve that he had seen her. “I didn’t believe you, I thought it was the drugs,” Steve admitted.

“Half of me thought it was too, we can’t change the past but we can help her now.”

“Well that should be easy,” Tony said and strutted into the room. “Seeing as none of you ragtag 1940s people can stay dead I thought I’d offer my help. You said she can teleport? Well I’ve got FRIDAY scanning across most of America for any unusual magnetic field bubbles to see if we can pinpoint where she’s jumping too.”

“How do we know she won’t just kill us if we find her?” Sam asked, “She’s easily able to.”

“Because she could have killed us back then and she didn’t,” Bucky told him, “At first and with you guys she was just having fun, she could have killed you if she wanted but it was more fun to taunt you. When we recognised her I saw that she was scared, well, not scared, but she dropped her confidence. It stopped being fun so she should have killed us right then but she didn’t. Which means she isn’t going to.”

“How can you be so sure?” Tony asked.

“I just can.”

“Mr. Stark I’m detecting an irregular magnetic field occurrence two hours from here,” FRIDAY’s voice sounded over the intercom.

“Let’s go,” Steve said standing up.

“You better hope you’re right, Barnes,” Tony said as they left to go get suited up.

—

You heard a commotion outside your apartment block and dread set in your stomach. It was a quiet area as it was so you knew it meant trouble, a quick peek out a window told you all you needed to know.

The Avengers were here for you.

Yes, you could easily teleport away before they even got to you but what was the point when they would just find you again anyway. You would just let them take you and do what they want, jail you or kill you it didn’t matter, you deserved it.

Whilst they were getting ready to storm in and get you, you put on your shoes and grabbed your jacket calmly. You heard a knock on the door and answered it, Steve was there with Natasha and both looked shocked that you had answered the door.

“You need to come with us,” Natasha said smoothly.

You nodded and held out your hands which Natasha cuffed and the two led you out of the apartment block and into the back of a van.

—

Back at the Avengers tower you were in a small metal interrogation room. You distantly remembered being in a similar situation before but couldn’t pinpoint it, in the room was a mirror that you knew was a one way window and you were waiting for someone to come in and make you confess to everything.

After a long wait someone opened the door and sat across from you. You hadn’t seen him before but he had brown hair and seemed very calm, “I’m Dr. Banner and I’m here to evaluate you,” he explained. “You don’t have to give us any information you don’t want.”

You nodded in understanding but knew that you would tell them everything anyway, there was no going back.

“Okay, let’s start easy. What’s your name?”

You paused, ‘Cobra’ was on the tip of your tongue but then you remembered the museum. “Y/N Y/L/N,” you said hesitantly.

“What was your code name?”

“Cobra.”

“You worked for Hydra?”

“Yes.”

“When did you first start working for them?”

“In the early 1950’s.”

“Do you remember anything from before then.”

You shook your head, “No.”

“Do you know anything about your past previous to Hydra.”

“I went missing in 1941, until then I lived in Brooklyn and I was born in 1917. I was friends with Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes.”

“How do you know that?”

“I read about it in a museum.”

He hummed and scribbled down some notes, you could see what he wrote and he only wrote your answers down. You wondered what he really thought of you.

“What about your time in Hydra. Did they hurt you?”

“No, I didn’t give them reason to. They pushed me hard in training but they didn’t hurt me, not like I know they did to others.”

“Which others?”

“Other assets,” you shrugged, “I never met them.”

“What abilities do you have?” he asked, leaning forward.

“I can teleport and I have super strength.”

“How did you get them?”

“I don’t know,” you admitted, you knew your powers were nothing ordinary but you couldn’t for the life of you remember how you got them. The only logical way was, “Hydra gave them to me, I guess.”

Banner started scribbling down, you read what he was writing and it was a whole bunch of science jargon that you didn’t understand so you looked away. “We’ll need to take some blood samples if that’s alright?”

You nodded and held out your arm and he took a vial of your blood. It awoke a short blurry memory of having blood taken while being strapped down, a feeling of fear washed over you and you pushed it to the side. You kept on remembering short fuzzy memories but nothing conclusive, nothing that could tell you anything about who you used to be.

“Thank you, that will be all for today.”

—

Banner walked round to the other room where all the Avengers had been watching the two of you. “So what your verdict?” Tony asked.

Bruce shrugged, “Honestly, I don’t know. Hydra didn’t torture her like they did Bucky, I have no idea how they were keeping her under control.”

“Why would they electrocute you?” Tony asked Bucky.

“If I started to remember or got out of line,” Bucky said quietly.

“So that must mean she wasn’t remembering. Whatever they did wiped her completely clean and they just made her theirs, there was nothing left for her to remember,” Bruce mused.

“Do you think she’ll ever regain her memories?” Steve asked apprehensively.

“Possibly, but I can’t guarantee anything.”

—

Over an hour later the door opened and in walked Steve, he wasn’t in his suit and looked rather deflated as he sat across from you. “I don’t suppose you remember me?”

“I know who you are but I don’t remember you,” you told him quietly.

Steve sighed, “It’s fine, I suspected it. I just came to tell you that we’re going to help you, we’re going to get your memories back and move on from Hydra.”

“You’re not putting me in jail?”

“You were being controlled, it’s not you at fault it’s Hydra,” Steve explained.

You shook your head, “Sure they shaped me at first but after that it was all me. I didn’t have to kill any of the people I did in the past two year but I did anyway, for fun, because I didn’t care about them.”

“But that’s not who you are. Hydra made you into a different person,” Steve reasoned. “Look, we’re all guilty. Bucky may be the only one who can truly understand what you’re going through, sure, people tried to capture him at first but we moved on. I won’t let anybody lock you up for what you did when you weren’t in your own mind.”

You nodded, “Okay,” you whispered. You didn’t deserve it, you know you didn’t, but you were all for self preservation so you would take whatever the Avengers were going to give you.


	4. epilogue

**A year later**

It had taken you a while to realise that this wasn’t all some sort of scheme to trap you. After several months you began to open up to the Avengers and became something you would almost call friends, you were closest to Steve and Bucky. Even without your memories they would always be your closest friends.

Speaking of your memories, some of them had begun to trickle back. You went to therapy each day and tried to sort out any new memory flashes or go over old ones to strengthen them. The first memories that came back to you had been of your time with Hydra when they had first taken you, your unwillingness to let them control you. You felt as if you had let yourself down by allowing them to take over your mind so completely.

Slowly you began to remember things from before the war, back in Brooklyn with Steve and Bucky when everything was simpler. These memories weren’t as sharp but you clung to them with all you had, they were the only things you had to remember yourself.

Sometimes you didn’t even realise you had gained a memory until you were joking around with Steve or Bucky and you would finish the ending of an old joke or story, realising after that you didn’t remember it but you knew it happened and that was good enough for you.

What was left of SHIELD helped you work through your pent up emotions through training, Sam was your personal trainer and it was so much different than your time at Hydra. They had worked you past your breaking point and even further until you were exhausted whereas Sam knew when to call it a day and not make you work too hard.

It was an easy rhythm living with them, although you felt as if Tony and Natasha always kept a watchful eye on you just in case you snapped back to ‘Cobra’. They did the same with Bucky and while he had confessed he found it unnerving and as if they didn’t trust him you found it comforting, knowing that there would be at least two of them prepared to take you down if it did happen. You couldn’t bare the thought of hurting any more innocent people.

Now that you were free from Hydra’s clutches you, Steve and Bucky spent a lot of time catching up on pop culture. While Steve was great at finding popular things for you to watch (because someone recommended them to him), you were great at finding lesser known but still brilliant shows and movies. Bucky was content to just watch whatever one of you chose.

Currently, Steve and Bucky were arguing over who had eaten the most popcorn and who deserved the last handful as Star Wars played on the screen in the background. A memory hit you of an almost identical argument between the boys while you sat in the middle of them in the middle of a cinema back in the 40s, you smiled slightly as you watched them resolve the fight in the same way too - split the handful in half.

Yes, things were a lot better now. You took advantage of your powers, not against people to harm them but more in the form of pranks. Like appearing behind someone and scaring them, or popping into a room long enough to take something a person was using and leave them wondering where they put it. While you were definitely different to what you had been like in the 40s you knew that it was alright, all three of you had changed, and as long as you all stuck together through thick and thin then everything would be alright.


End file.
